Chaos is looming.
If the political happenings earlier this week are any indication of the coming months, we're not just in trouble - we're screwed.
News broke early Tuesday morning of Democratic presidential (soon-to-be) nominee John Kerry's decision to use former opponent John Edwards as his vice president.
This isn't the problem, however.
What is of note is the fact that said news was delivered via text message to my cell phone at around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Yay for Verizon and CNN.
Nay for Dave wanting more "sleepy time."
Certainly technology is a vital tool in the world of politics and knowledge, as I can justify by having been rudely awoken by my text message jingle in the midst of my week off.
As a culture, this technology helps to keep us more informed of everyday events and issues; issues and events that could very well sway the votes in an election year like this.
It can also be used to relay that information roughly seven hours before any major news organization. And that's excluding the one newspaper that still managed to botch the announcement.
Whoops.
According to various reports late Tuesday from sources like MSNBC and the New York Times, the news of Kerry and Edwards joining forces was posted onto an internet message board site just moments before 10 p.m. Monday night.
That's right -- and internet newsgroup/message board scooped [beat out] major media outlets by almost seven hours.
Must've been the holiday.
Needless to say, when THIS news broke Tuesday afternoon, many news critics were wondering how a nation of umpteenth news outlets lost out to (what one outlet reported to be) USAviation.com.
Not where one would expect to turn for the latest breaking news.
Neglect the fact that, according to our news networks, something, somewhere for some reason is always "breaking."
However, this does prove a point that technology, namely the Internet, may see its largest role yet in election history.
Not only in the mediocre advantage of finding out a running-mate, but also when it comes to informing voters... or better said, allowing voters to be informed.
No longer is "I don't know enough" an excuse not to vote. At one time in history, a newspaper was the only form of information. Radio and television soon followed, but they were not instant forms of gratification. Again, the newspaper remained the only "when you want" source for news.
With the advent of the Internet, things changed. Information remained not only instantaneous, but also updated and plentiful.
With it, of course, a lot of porn, a few X10 camera ads and that annoying chime from instant messenger.
But -- at least now we have our news and information when we want it; those who know not of political issues no longer have an excuse to not find out.
It's easier then it has ever been.
Four years after the last election usage and, more importantly, accessibility numbers have greatly risen for the Internet, and the message board posting Monday night just proves that.
Only time will tell how well such plentiful information shapes the way the country votes, but one would like to think that it would make us (slightly) wiser as a collective whole.
...And it all starts with an Internet message board.
Just think what we could have found out about Monica and Bill.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
